04 July 2009

One of the items on my bucket list is "Visit all 7 Channel Islands," which is going to be a really good trick. Two of the islands are super-secret military bases, or so says my friend Ish, who works on San Nicholas Island.

He says he absolutely cannot tell me what happens on the island, lest we both be spirited away to a CIA black site and submitted to the Comfy Chair treatment. So I may have to shave my head and disguise myself as a Marine to sneak on, or something.

But I have high hopes, so still I forge ahead. I have had two memorable trips to two Channel Islands - Anacapa (25 years ago, with my crazy boyfriend Mr. Mojo) and Santa Rosa where I found the first shreds of solace after my sister's death two years ago.

This weekend I visited my third island in Channel Islands National Park, San Miguel, on an Island Packers trip.

Beach at Cuyler Harbor

San Miguel is the furthest island out, a windswept little place where thousands of birds nest and seals rest on the warm white velvet sands.

Elephant Seal

And if you think the ISLAND is pretty, you should have seen the boat's crew. They were truly something to bring a tear to the most jaded eye.

There I was, a large wrinkly hulk of a human dressed in 7 layers of warm clothing, surrounded by a crew made up of people who have been banned from Abercrombie and Fitch ads because they would humiliate the other models.

Ok, I made that up, but really, it was like a shipload of freakishly mutant gorgeous people who gracefully danced around the ship in bare feet and shorts like it was their own seagoing jungle gym.

The woman on the left and the guys in blue are crew members. The guy with the big hat is a really nice guy who goes out to the islands all the time.

And then there was me:

I also made some new friends. Let me introduce them:And you know? I can live with that.

02 July 2009

We have walked at least 5,000 miles together. Chased 3,000 birds. Caught 50 lizards, five gophers and one very mad rat. Been through one major and three minor surgeries. Rattlesnake bite. Foxtail in the eye and one in the ear. She has dragged me through bushes, into the ocean, over fences. She is an adventuresome dog and I am her enabler.

And as I say to her every day, I still think she is "the greatest dog in the world."